How Keela checks for Pre-Existing Contacts in your Contact Data

If you are Importing Contacts, you'll be given some options to choose from so that the Keela system knows how we should check for duplicates in your data.

When you import contacts, Keela scans your data for pre-existing contacts using the following criteria, in order:

Keela looks for an Origin ID (the one that you've imported from another system during a contact import)
If there is no match on Origin ID, Keela will search for a match on the Email Address
If there is also not a match with Email Address, Keela will search for a match on the Full Name or Company Name of your Contact record. Please note that the Full Name or Company Name in your import spreadsheet must match exactly with the name in Keela, or a duplicate will be created.

You can also toggle off some of these options so Keela will 'skip' that piece of information when checking for duplicates. For example, if you toggle off the option to check for matching email addresses Keela will check for an Origin ID first, and then jump straight to checking for matching Full Names or Company Names.

Hint: We recommend ensuring that a primary email address is only listed on one Contact record in Keela.

How Keela Manages Duplicates in your Incoming Contact Data

Now that you've specified how you want Keela to identify any pre-existing contacts, it's time to determine how Keela should handle any duplicates it finds!

You'll have the below options for duplicate management:

Let me choose with fields to replace - You'll have complete control with this option, as you'll be directed to a merge tool after the import. Any duplicate matches will be brought to your attention one-by-one and you can choose if you'd like to merge the contacts together or keep them as separate records, as well as which fields you'd like to retain.
Replace all - If a contact in Keela already exists, this option will update any existing information with the data included in your import. New Tags will also be added alongside the pre-existing Tags with this option.
Replace only if empty - If a contact in Keela already exists and they have data in a specific field, but you DO NOT want to update that field with the data included in the spreadsheet.
Create new fields - If data in a contact field already exists, a new contact will be created.

Updating Existing Contact Data? Please be sure to check this article on best practices for managing duplicates, especially if you plan on updating address or multi-value custom fields data for your contacts.

How Keela Checks & Manages Duplicates in your Donation/Revenue/Volunteer/Membership Data

When it comes to this data, the Keela system will automatically use all three pieces of information to check for duplicates in your account (Origin ID, Email Address, and Full Name). If you do not want the system to check for duplicates with one of these bits of information, simply remove it from your spreadsheet!

If an existing record is found in Keela, the system will automatically choose the Replace all option. This means that your Contact profiles will be updated with any new contact information on these types of Data Spreadsheets and then the Transaction, Volunteer and Membership data will be added to the Contact profile.

The system is designed to work in this way because it will avoid any unruly duplicates from being created whenever you import this type of data!